Napoleon`s invasion of Russia and the terrible retreat from Moscow were a military epic and human tragedy on a colossal scale-history`s first example of total war. But the war of u1812 was not just a war in defence of Russia: it was the climax to a long duel between two emperors for supremacy in Europe, and its outcome affected the course of the continent`s history over the next time two centuries. Napoleon`s Grande Armee, the largest in the history of the world, had Spanish and Portuguese, Italians and Poles, Germans and Croats, Dutchmen and Swiss as well as Frenchmen in its ranks. He launched it into the huge expanses of Russia, where to could find neither food nor water.